


love is in the air...and it smells like coffee

by MayWilder



Series: coffee shop au [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Fluff, M/M, parkner
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:01:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23261404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MayWilder/pseuds/MayWilder
Summary: “You go to Queens every morning,” Pepper says dryly, taking her drink from his offered hands, “Because of a cute boy?”“You complaining?” Harley shoots back. “Your intern suggested it.”“Hey, as long as you keep using Tony’s special thermoses to keep it warm, I don’t care where you go, and I trust Betty’s opinion with coffee. I’m just saying that if you’re going to make the journey, you should make it worth it.”“Pep, seeing him? Completely worth it.”
Relationships: Harley Keener & Pepper Potts, Harley Keener & Tony Stark, Harley Keener/Peter Parker
Series: coffee shop au [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1672573
Comments: 23
Kudos: 548
Collections: Parkner Coffee Shop Collection





	love is in the air...and it smells like coffee

**Author's Note:**

> so this is written for the parkner discord March event, which was themed coffee shop au. thank you lexie for doing the events and for being a beta! you're a rockstar, babe <3  
> this also serves as a companion piece/Harley's pov to my first coffee shop au

The first time Harley walks into Delmar’s, it’s because Pepper’s assistant, a girl from Queens, assures him that they have the best dirty chai in the state of New York, and their favorite barista at Pickeny’s moved cross country. So, he makes the long journey to queens for a cup of coffee to save the working relationship of Pepper and Tony. He’s lucky that the second he walks in, he sees the hottest guy this side of the country and thinks, _Please, for the love of God, be attracted to men._

He takes it as a sign of hope that when he walks up to the other boy, he’s flushed and nervous. Harley tests the waters with the right kind of smirk and an attentive gaze, and the blushing barista tells him his name. 

Peter. 

Harley takes the card back, watches the boy work, and knows he has to come back. 

**)-(**

“You go to Queens every morning,” Pepper says dryly, taking her drink from his offered hands, “Because of a cute boy?”

“You complaining?” Harley shoots back. “Your intern suggested it.”

“Hey, as long as you keep using Tony’s special thermoses to keep it warm, I don’t care where you go, and I trust Betty’s opinion with coffee. I’m just saying that if you’re going to make the journey, you should make it worth it.”

“Pep, seeing him? Completely worth it.”

“Oh?”

“He’s so shy. He doesn’t say anything to me, and he gets so pink in the cheeks when I watch him work.”

An eyebrow tilts up. “Are you making him uncomfortable?”

Harley hasn’t thought about that before. He’s taken Peter’s shy smile and sweet responses as nervousness, not as being uncomfortable. He feels like a complete jerk and looks at Pepper in dread. “Fuck. How do I find out?”

“Oh my god, you _complete child_. Ask him.”

**)-(**

Harley doesn’t ask. The next morning, _Peter_ starts the conversation. 

“How has your morning been?” he asks, swiping the card and smiling. His cheeks aren’t pink, and his expression is open...hopeful?

Too nervous about rejection, Harley decides to test the waters a little deeper. “Better now that I’ve seen you.”

Peter stutters, ducks his head, and grins. 

**)-(**

“Did you ask?” Pepper takes her drink. 

Harley’s silence is answer enough. 

“Harley James.”

“Look, I know, I do…” Harley shifts. “I’m just… gonna tone down the flirting. Do casual conversation for a while, get to know him.”

“Or you could just say ‘Hello, do you like boys and do you like me?’”

“But the _fear of rejection_ , Pep. Trust me, I’m a southern gay. I can handle the repression.”

**)-(**

Harley cannot handle the repression. 

Peter is just impossibly cute. He works quickly and efficiently, and once he gets used to Harley’s presence, talks while he does so. He tells Harley how he attends Columbia during the fall and spring, but he’s taking some afternoon classes to make summer less boring. He’s smart, on the fast track for a double degree and a business minor. He and Harley talk easily about his chemistry and engineering classes, about how the biological and chemical aspect of science fairs against the pure joy of mechanics, or how the true ideal is a fusion of the two. They talk about family, about single parents who work too hard and provide so much, or about sassy friends and how they make the world go round. 

Over the next month, Harley gets to know Peter, and he’s getting greedy. He asks slightly deeper questions about Peter’s Aunt May, or about school struggles, or about hard classes that challenge the will to finish the degree. In those moments, Harley sees kindness and perseverance. Loyalty to his friends and family, gentleness even with nasty customers. 

One day, Harley shows up and Peter isn’t working. He feels a little disappointed as he walks in and finds Mr. Delmar behind the counter, not the brown-eyed boy he’s been falling for over the last month. 

Mr. Delmar must see the disappointment, because he rolls his eyes. “Ask the boy out,   
I swear.”

“Sir?” Harley feigns confusion. 

“Peter won’t shut up about your pretty hair and your pretty eyes and how he just looks forward to seeing you so much,” Delmar wrinkles his nose. “It’s cute, but it’s all the time. If you like the kid, please tell him. Save us all.”

Harley grins. “Thank you, sir.”

“Don’t call me sir.”

**)-(**

On Wednesday, Harley can’t get away from the lab and Betty goes to get coffee. 

On Thursday, Peter is rinsing out a dish when something bursts and he gets a face full of water. Harley doesn’t get the chance to talk to him during _that_ mess. 

On Friday, it’s so busy that Peter is flying around making coffee while Delmar takes requests. Harley throws him a wink and a smile and ducks out so he doesn’t cause any problems. 

Saturday morning, he strides into the shop to find it surprisingly busy again. Peter already looks flustered and frustrated, like something happened before Harley showed up, and Harley smiles brightly in hopes that it might help. 

It doesn’t. Peter stutters through running his card and hurries behind the counter. Harley wishes they could, wishes he could check in and make sure Peter isn’t too overwhelmed because something’s the matter-

“Shit!” Peter exclaims, watching in horror as chai tea spills all over the counter. It flies across the wood and splashes into Harley’s shirt, stinging his skin with heat and causing him to hiss sharply. “Harls, I’m so sorry!”

“It’s okay, Peter—” did Peter just call him a nickname?

“God, I’m an idiot, I didn’t mean—” Peter stammers miserably. 

Harley interrupts him. “Honestly, baby, I swear it’s okay—” 

“Peter!” Delmar yells. “Stop talking to your boyfriend and clean it up! We got other customers, kid, c'mon.”

“Yes sir!” Peter visibly cringes and turns his head to Harley, eyes wide and too pretty. “Next one’s on me, I promise.”

Harley opens his mouth to reply, to tell him not to worry about it, but Mr. Delmar yells for Peter again, and Peter motions to the mess. “I better…you know.”

“See you later, darlin’.” Harley says instead. 

He ducks out of the door instead of ordering another coffee. 

**)-(**

“You look like shit.”

Harley glares at his mentor from behind his visor, hoping Tony can feel the annoyance, despite not being able to see it. It seems to work, because the older man tosses a screwdriver aside and rolls toward Harley. He waits, leaning against the counter with a patience so obvious its not actually patience. 

Harley ignores him. 

Tony starts whistling. 

“Jesus Christ - _fine_.” He drops his blowtorch and pushes up his visor. “ _What._ ”

“You clearly want to tell me because you caved much too quickly.”

Harley rolls his eyes. “I have been trying to ask Peter out all week. And things keep getting in the way and he looked really upset today. Then he spilled coffee on me and I’m pretty sure that means he’s never going to look at me and all the progress we made is gone because he’s so fucking shy.”

“So?” Tony shrugs. “Him being embarrassed shouldn’t stop you. What kind of message does that send?”

“What do you mean?” Harley frowns. 

“Well, if you’re trying to ask him out and he does something that embarasses him, then you pulling back is going to reinforce his embarrassment. Is that what you want?”

“No,” Harley stresses. “I just don’t wanna push when he’s upset.”

“So give him your number, then, see what he does, go from there.”

“You and Pep make it sound so easy.”

“It is, kid. Like rebuilding an engine.”

“I’ve done that a thousand times,” Harley says. “How the hell is that the same?”

“Oh. Well it’s as easy as rebuilding an engine for me, I guess.”

“You’re a dick. And unhelpful. An unhelpful dick.”

“But my di-”

“Nope. I’m leaving. Goodbye.”

**)-(**

Harley stands outside Delmar’s nervously. He’s got a sticky note with his number stuck on the card. If Peter wants to ignore the note, fine. They’ll move on. If he wants to acknowledge, well...that’s preferred, but he doesn’t get his hopes up. 

He pushes into the store. Peter is wiping down counters, his curls loose instead of combed back. Harley struggles to focus on anything else. 

At the sound of the bell, his head snaps up. The smile is shy, hesitant as if he's unsure of how this is going to go. “Good morning.”

He is so goddamn cute. 

“Mornin’,” Harley manages, looking anywhere else before he loses his nerve. “Slow today?”

“Sundays always are around this time” he answers. “The usual?”

“Add a chocolate croissant, please.” Harley hands over the card without asking for the total. Peter moves to swipe it, but sees the sticky note before doing so. Harley's blood rushes in his ears and he prompts Peter with a: “Everything alright with the card, Peter?”

“Y-Yes,” the other boy squeaks. “Did you mean to—after I spilled coffee on you?”

Harley leans in, acting more confident than he feels. “I had that written yesterday, darlin’. Before the coffee incident.”

“Oh.”

Harley grins, leans forward more to brush a kiss across the arch of Peter’s cheek. He's pleased when he catches Peter's little shiver, pulling back to actually smile that he hasn't been smacked away. The other boy is flushed, biting his lip and waiting for something else. 

So, just to diffuse the situation—

“Not to be an ass,” Harley whispers. “But I still need my coffee.”

Peter's laugh is loud and honest, and Harley feels like flying. 

**Author's Note:**

> maywildflowers on tumblr. its just a trashcan of my favorite things


End file.
